You probably have heard about a lot of productivity habits that help you to get more done. Ways to manage your time and be organized that help you to work smarter so that you can be productive without burning yourself out.
But there are also some seemingly unrelated habits that have a big impact on your productivity and they don’t have anything to do with time management.
Self centering habits like meditating or journaling
Anything that calms your nervous system, reduces anxiety and helps you to process your thoughts, will aid you to be more productive on a daily basis.
Exercise
Energy begets energy. Daily movement will boost your energy and ability to concentrate.
Cooking
This one may seem weird but hear me out; Cooking is actually the most common habit you see among people who are the healthiest. Not exercise, but cooking. When you cook your own meals you have control over the quality of your food which means you are likely to be healthier and have more energy. That translates into increased cognition and that means you get more done in less time.
Reading
Again, this one may seem strange but reading is like exercise for the brain so it helps with cognition on a long term basis. Plus, all the information you take in is inevitably going to help you along the way to make smarter decisions and work more efficiently.
Socializing (with the right people)
This one probably even seems counter productive, but we are social creatures (yes, even us introverts) and being around people who lift us up, hold us accountable, encourage us to be better people and provide us with strong emotional connection, has a direct impact on our happiness and fulfillment. And if you have ever tried to get stuff done in a time in your life when you felt depressed or unfulfilled, you know how this impacts your productivity.
As you might have noticed, there’s a common theme with these habits: They make you a healthier, happier person.
And healthier and happier people tend to get more done.
So if you are struggling with getting things done or have found that all the time management and productivity tips in the world are not really working, its likely because one or more of these things are off for you.
Focus on being a overall healthier, happier person and your ability to be productive is going to improve for sure.
Of course, things like using a planner daily are also important and if you are not currently using one, I recommend you check out the Life Book Planner. This planner is like no other and with its unique features and layouts, its bound to get your more organized and productive so you can get things done without burning yourself out and still have time for rest, fun and family!
Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution – Brian Tracy.
Even if this is partially true, and I am inclined to believe its mostly true, imagine the time you could save over a life time if you started planning?!
I honestly believe this is one of the main reasons why I seem to get so much done compared to a lot of other people. I don’t think I’m a harder worker or have some special talent other don’t, I simply take time to plan things out.
My husband is one of the hardest workers I know and since he doesn’t plan very much (yes, I get the irony…) his days are often a hectic mess and he loses a lot of time to things he might have foreseen if he had done some more planning.
Goal planning, yearly planning, monthly planning, event planning, occasion planning and yes, day planning.
It all adds up to a heck of a lot of time saved and headaches avoided.
Today I want to share the 5 step process I go through to plan out my day so I can be prepared, organized and optimally productive.
Just before we get started, make sure you have a good planner to do this in. I use the Life Book planner, which I created myself because I couldn’t find one that worked well for me. So many planners lack the necessary space to plan properly. You can check out the Life Book here, or download the free mini version here to test it out.
1-Whats already scheduled
Look at your monthly calendar and see what is already booked or scheduled for today. Write that into today’s schedule.
2- Non-negotiables
These are the things you do, often daily, that take time and must be done. We often forget about them when planning our day because they are part of our normal routine but we have to take them into consideration before we create a to-do list so we know exactly how much time we have. So add in any non-negotiables, like school drops off, kids sports practises or meal preparation.
3- To-do List
Looking at how much time you have left in your day, create your to-do list. Look at your weekly, monthly or Master to-do list and decide what should be done today. Start with the most urgent items and add in whatever else you have time for (2-4 items max). If you want, identify any other task you will do IF you have time.
4- Identify your frog
Brian Tracey coined the term Eat That Frog which basically means you should identify and do your most important task of the day first. There are a few reasons for this; 1, since the longer the day goes on the more likely life is to get in the way, it ensures it actually gets done; 2, getting done the task that is the most important first takes off the pressure and makes you more productive the rest of the day. So figure out which task that is and schedule that in first or as early as possible.
5- Loosely schedule in the rest
Lastly, schedule in the remaining tasks on your list at the general time (morning, afternoon or evening) you plan on doing them. Being too rigid with your schedule by putting everything at super precise moments puts a lot of pressure on you to have the day go perfectly and if there is one thing we know, perfection is a myth. You are setting yourself up for failure by doing this because you will likely get off track, get overwhelmed and stressed because things are not going according to plan. So just pick a general time.
Bonus tip:
Start this the evening before so that you have time to prep anything necessary in advance. This is actually a super important step. I get asked all the time if we should plan in the evening or the morning of and I always say both. Start the day or evening before and then finalize it the morning of.
This may all seem like a long process but I promise you, once you get used to doing it, it only take 5-10 minutes tops! Especially if you have already started planning for your week on Sunday, which I also recommend.
If you would like more great content like what you read here, make sure to follow me on IG @organized_owl or on FB @organizedowl.
There are of course, the obvious things that make a person more productive, things like batching certain tasks, creating a schedule, getting rid of distractions, etc.
But there are some surprising things that can make a big impact on how much you get done and the great thing is how easy and simply they can be to implement.
So let’s get right to it, because after all, you’e got stuff to do!
Putting LESS on your to-do list. Overwhelm can seriously get in the way of getting things done.
Getting dressed. Doesn’t have to be office attire, but putting on an outfit that feels put together signals to your brain it’s time to be productive.
Your view. Looking at a sink of dirty dishes from your desk in the kitchen? Not helpful.
Lots of natural light. Unless you are a serious night owl, having natural light in your work space energizes you.
Tackling the big stuff first. Ok, so this may not be so surprising if you’ve been following me for a while but doing the bigger, often less desirable tasks first makes you so much more productive the rest of the day. It’s like a weight gets lifted off your shoulders and you get a shot of adrenaline. Seriously, try it, you will see.
Of course, none of these replace some of the classic producvity powerhouses, like using a planner, but they can give you a surprising boost.
Speaking of planners, you do have one, right?…
If not, thats the absolute first thing I recommend you doing. Head on over here to check out the one I use, the Life Book Planner. It has all the features you need (Master to do list, important dates page, budget page, complete goal planning section, meal and exercise planning, bullet journal tracking and more) and none of the fluff you don’t. Most importantly, the design allows you to personalize it to YOUR unique life and needs. Now thats a planner worth getting excited over! (Full transparency; I created this planner. Initially, for myself because I couldn’t find a planner that really worked. Then I realized there were probably a lot of people just like me and they NEEDED this planner in their hands)
Got some Q’s or just want more awesome tips and tricks on how to live more organized and productive? Find me on IG @organized_owl or FB @organizedowl.
If you are not familiar with that term, it’s something I learned from Chalene Johnson and the premise is simple.
It’s the goal that by achieving it, it makes accomplishing most of your other goals easier.
So how do you do this?
1- Figure out what you need
In order to achieve a goal you need one or more of the following; Money, time, a new skill or knowledge or accountability/self discipline. Look at each of your goals and identify which of the four you need for each goal. You may feel like you need a little bit of all of them but the idea is to identify the one (s) you primarily need.
2- Which one do you need the most of?
Now add them up; which of those 4 do you have the most of? Obviously you won’t likely need the same one for every single goal, but there is probably going to be a common theme. Now, is there a goal already on your list that will give you that? If not, create a new goal that will.
This goal is your Push goal and is your priority goal.
Oftentimes your push goal will be a financial goal and that’s ok! It doesn’t make you shallow. It’s simply the means by which you will achieve most of your other goals.
For example: If you were to make an additional 2000$ in your business you could hire a personal trainer to help you with your health goals, and outsource some business tasks so you could have more time to spend with your kids.
A push goal is not necessarily the goal that is most important to you, but its the goal that will PUSH you into achieving the goals that are.
See how this works?
Need a place to do your goal planning this year? The Life Book Planner is the perfect place! Complete day planner and goal planner in one, it’s been the secret sauce in achieving my goals since I created it and I know it will do the same for you!
Head on over to www.organizedowl.com to learn more about its unique features and to get your copy.
So you’ve set some goals, were really great for a few days and now its been 2 weeks and you haven’t done a thing.
What gives?
If you’re anything like me, you’ve wondered if you’re lazy, if you don’t have what it takes or if you’re undeserving of the life you dream of.
Today, I can say with absolute certainly that its NONE OF THOSE THINGS.
I don’t know you, but I know that you can achieve almost anything with the right mindset and skills.
Now I won’t tell you that achieving your goal will be easy and fast, HOWEVER, the reason you don’t stick with working towards that goal is not too hard to fix and is likely one (or a combination) of these 5 things:
The goal is not right for you
First, do some deep thinking, is this something that you truly want to achieve? Or is it something you think you should want?
Its hard to stay focused on something you don’t really want. Or that doesn’t align with your values and priorities. Doing a fitness competition might seem like fun but if it requires spending so much time in the gym that you hardly get to see your family, who are you number 1 priority, you are bound to struggle.
So is the goal really for you? Is what it takes to achieve it something you are comfortable with?
You don’t look at them everyday
I’ve spent a lot of time watching super successful people to learn as much as I can from them and one of the most common things I hear when it comes to goals is that they look at them every day.
Every.
Day.
By looking at their goals as often as possible they keep them forefront in their mind. Seeing your goals written down reminds you why you set them and serves as motivation to keep working on them.
A lot of people write their goals down in a separate note book, which they then leave in their desk drawer and promptly forget about.
The easiest way to get around this is to have your goals, and goal plan, in your daily planner. It has been proven that writing things out with pen and paper has a greater impact on your mind then typing or simply thinking. Things you write down are FAR more likely to happen. Which makes a paper agenda a SUPER important tool when it comes to your goals, your productivity and how well your life is organized.
Incorporating my goal setting into my day planner was, by far, the most impactful change I made. I went from hardly ever achieving anything to regularly accomplishing more then I ever thought I could. Having your goal setting in your planner is the simplest and easiest way to make your goals a regular part of your life.
Don’t have a planner that allows you to do this? Go here to find out more about the one I use.
Your goal plan is too vague
Its really hard to work on your goals when you don’t know exactly what you are supposed to be doing on any given day.
When you make a plan for your goal, all the steps you need to take to achieve it need to be broken down into small, doable action steps.
For example, if one of your goals is to organize your entire home and your first step is to simply ‘do the upper level’, its going to feel overwhelming. Where do you start? What exactly are you supposed to do.
Keep breaking down each step until you get to tasks that are doable in 60 minutes or less, like organize the linen closet or declutter the kids toys.
You didn’t schedule in your goal tasks
Look at your to-do list for today, does it include goal related tasks?
If not, you need to be scheduling these tasks in like you would an appointment or any other to-do you have to accomplish.
When you open your planner on any given week you should know exactly what you need to be doing that week to make progress on your goals.
The other way to do this is to schedule in time to work on your goals. If scheduling in specific tasks doesn’t work for you, then at the very least, schedule in blocks of time to work on your goals, like 30 minutes every evening after the kids go to bed. Your ability to do it this way will depend on the nature your goal, of course, but if it works for you then go for it.
This step creates accountability because your brains sees the scheduled task as something it has to get done, whether its technically “optional” or not. Little bit of brain trickery.
But it works. Accountability is a super important part of achieving your goals for a lot of people, so make sure when you create your goal plan, you figure out and set up any accountability you are going to use.
You didn’t set a proper time limit
Parkinson’s law states that the time you have to do something, is the time it will take you to do it.
So if you give yourself a year to achieve your goal, it will take you a year to achieve your goal.
Of course, you can’t be unreasonable, but the time limit you set should be just enough to get it done. Delays happen, and you might have to give yourself extra time but don’t do that until you have to. Giving yourself too much time (and knowing it) removes the sense of urgency that says you need to start right away, leaving you to put it off and lose focus and interest.
So which one(s) are tripping you up?
I fell victim to every single of one of them before and still do from time to time. When I find myself struggling with a goal, I sit back for a second and see if I’m guilty of one of these. Personally, it usually is that I haven’t broken the plan down into small enough actionable steps.
It basically comes down to this: Your goals need to be a regular, everyday part of your life, like eating meals or exercising. The easiest way to do this is to make it a habit using a planner that has the proper space for you to set and plan your goals and then schedule them into your day.
(There are not a lot of planners that do this, I know I’ve spent way too much time looking, so if you are struggling to find one that does, check out mine here. It also has space for you to organize the rest of your life, because thats important too!)
A very smart lady by the name of Mel Robbins taught me that procrastination is a form of stress release (mind blown!) so if none of these the things I’ve talked about are causing your struggle, you might consider what your subconscious is trying to tell you. Do you need more time to rest and relax? Or a better activity to release stress? Or is there something about the goal that is giving you anxiety?
Any questions? Comment below!
I hope I’ve helped you identify your problem today and in case you have any doubts,
YOU’VE GOT THIS!
Jennifer
Need some extra help or motivation to achieve your goals? Join my Facebook group Organized for Success where you will find a ton of free tips and tricks to help you get your to-do list done, find time for yourself and reach your goals, as well as an awesome group of ambitious, like minded people just like you there to support you along the way.
Organized Owl 